U.S. pressing Netherlands on tighter airport security

Royal Military Police at Schiphol Airport (Picture: Facebook/Koninklijke Marechaussee). Royal Military Police at Schiphol Airport (Picture: Facebook/Koninklijke Marechaussee)

The United States want Dutch traveling to the country to go through sharp security checks before they board the plane in the Netherlands. The Americans are currently discussing this measure with the Netherlands and five other countries.

On Monday the United States decided to tighten access rules for visitors traveling without a visa. This decision was made as a result of the terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13th. The Netherlands is one of 38 countries whose citizens can travel to the United States without a visa.

According to NOS, people traveling to the US without a visa will now have to deal with stricter security checks and will have to give biometric information such as iris scans and fingerprints. Travelers will also have to give more information about previous visits to countries "that offer terrorists a safe haven". This includes countries like Somalia, Mali, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia and Venezuela.

Airlines who do not check their passengers thoroughly enough in advance, can be fined up to 47,300 euros, according to NU. Some countries may even be scrapped from the list of citizens allowed to travel to the US without a visa.

Currently about 20 million people visit the US without a visa every year. If you come from one of the 38 countries on the list, you only have to apply for a visa if you plan on staying in the country for more than 90 days or plan to work in America.